Mother Love

motherhood + home + family

MISCELLANEOUS

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^ Not my house, but pretty, huh? ^

  • The first day of fall is in two days…I feel bittersweet about that. It’s always sad to say goodbye to the flip-flops, and short sleeves, and long evenings, and sunshine of summertime…but fall is also fun in its own way. Sweatshirts, campfires, cozy evenings, hot drinks, crisp days…it’s a good thing, and it’s on its way! Chill is definitely in the air here in the Finger Lakes.
  • Fruit flies are about to drive me out of my house right now, and I viciously trying to destroy them with homemade remedies I found online. Anyone have any tips and tricks to get rid of these little suckers? I’ve packed away all my fruit and veg that I usually keep on my counter into the fridge, sprayed down counters and trashcans, and set out little jars of vinegar/dish soap/water with plastic wrap over top and little holes poked through the wrap (supposedly the flies are supposed to go through the holes to get to the vinegar water and then not get back out???). 
  • The hubs and I went out on the town last night, and it was a good time (as always!). The cafe we were originally planning on going to was randomly closed when we got there, so we walked across the street to an Asian/Indian restaurant. Appetizers were spot-on, but main entrees were a little meh. I ordered a Lamb Kofta dish, which tasted more like goat than lamb and made me want to throw up in my mouth. Goat meat = no bueno. But nonetheless, it was a beautiful evening!
  • Did anyone else notice the MOON last night? Whoa! Absolutely gorgeous.
  • We are playing parents to niece + nephews this weekend – fun times! 
  • It’s grape season here in the Finger Lakes. It’s beautiful and smells grape-y when you walk by, but what I never knew is how much grape season can sound like a war-zone. The vineyards around our house put up these cannons (not loaded) that go off what-feels-like-every-ten-seconds to scare off the birds that would come and eat the grapes. So starting about 6:30 AM and going throughout the whole day, they are blowing their booms at the birds. The first day they started I had no idea what was going on…it was a little strange. “Are we at war here?”

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    • One of my oldest and best friends is getting married in one week. I’m so happy and excited for her, and can’t wait to go to SC and celebrate next week!

    • Thanks so much for your positive encouragements on yesterday’s post. It really does mean a lot to hear encouragement! 

    Have a great weekend, all.

    YOU

    Who are you? Who am I?

    Is there a difference between who I am and who I want to be?

    For me, most days the answer is yes. Yes, I want to be someone different than who I am. And most days this feeling is not from a holy kind of discontentment, where I am simply longing to grow and be stronger in the Lord or knowledge or compassion. No, most days it’s from an entirely carnal mindset, where I just want to be different than what I am.

    I want to be creative like that friend.

    I want to write like that blogger.

    I want to interact and be witty and engaging like that person.

    I want to look like that woman.

    I spend so much time looking around at everyone else and wanting to grab parts of their characteristics and personality and life that I completely lose who I am in the process.

    Comparison is a trap…a deadly trap that will grab your soul and suck you in so deep that you don’t even know you’re there. Trust me…I’ve been there. I’m still there in so many ways. And it robs me of life and joy at times. For instance, a few weeks ago I was sitting in church and suddenly noticed the girl’s arms who was sitting in front of me. Immediately I start comparing…“why can’t my arms be small and cute and petite like hers? Why can’t I just be small and cute and petite like that?” And before I knew it, my thoughts and attention were far away from church, far away from truth. It was a huge mental battle to wrench myself out of that trap and focus again on Jesus that night. The Lord is continuing to set me free from this comparison thing…He’s continuing to show me that freedom is being exactly who He designed me to be. Exactly who He’s asking me to be.

    God isn’t going to create you, give you life and creativity and personality, and then ask you to be someone else.

    I know, there is much hype and talk these days about “just be yourself.” But in all reality, that is much easier said than done. It’s much easier to feel like a failure at being a good human than it is to feel the proper pride and contentment in being you. For some reason, it seems that many of us have the idea that to feel ok with who we are is to be prideful. Self-negativity is almost a virtue in some churches and cultures, but I don’t believe for a minute that that kind of mindset is of God.

    It’s much easier to look around at others and see all their worth and value and positive characteristics, and look at yourself and see nothing but negative. It’s easier, but not right. Jesus invites us to take an honest look at ourselves and see our worth and value and positive characteristics. Once we see it, we live up to it.

    It’s ok to want to be you. It’s ok to like who you are.
    God does.

    I once heard this thought: you should never think anything of yourself that Jesus wouldn’t think of you. (and Jesus isn’t thinking things like stupid, worthless, ugly, failure, etc.etc.etc.) The battle for my freedom is predominantly in the mind, in my thoughts. So if my thoughts are leading me away from truth and into comparison and negativity, than I should get a new thought, one that agrees with Jesus. Once again, easier said than done. But it can be done…and it will be done, because Jesus has promised freedom, and He would never promise something that doesn’t have the ability to come to pass. But it’s up to me to control where I allow my thoughts to run. It’s up to me to allow Jesus to bring me that freedom.

    Some days, truth feels really far away.
    Some days, truth feels really un-true.
    Some days, lies are so much easier to nod my head in agreement with.

    But some days – and more and more, most days – I choose to believe, even when I don’t feel a stinking thing. Because feelings don’t matter…Jesus and truth and faith does.

    Carry on, my friends. Carry on.

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